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gorgeous apple handwash

I've currently got the green tea & apple handwash from Waitrose by the kitchen sink. It's part of the 'essential' Waitrose toiletries collection, and it's on offer at the moment for just £1.00, it's normally £1.11 - so it doesn't cost much even at full price. I really like the 'essential' toiletries range in Waitrose, and I very often pick up a couple of the items with my shopping.

The green tea & apple handwash comes in a 300ml bottle. The handwash is a luxurious thick and creamy consistency, and it's a lovely creamy pale green colour. It smells really lovely, really fruity and fresh. I would say that I can smell the fruity apple in this more than I smell the green tea. I can certainly smell the green tea in this, but I think that I just expected the green tea to to be the main fragrance as it's listed first in the description - green tea & apple handwash. The best way I can think of to describe the fragrance is a very appley version of Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea perfume. This handwash leaves my hands feeling lovely and soft, and smelling absolutely divine, and the fruity apple fragrance lingers on my hands for a little while after washing them.

The pump on this handwash has been a little bit stiff, (and so have the pumps on most of the handwashes that I've bought from the range - maybe there's a design flaw in the pumps) and I have found that it is easy to knock the bottle over as the pump doesn't always depress properly. This is my only gripe with it though as the handwash itself is fine. One pump of the handwash is plenty to adequately wash my hands, it lathers up really well on my hands with just a small amount of water. It is really quite gentle and it doesn't dry out my hands like some hand washes can, even with constant daily use. This leaves my hands perfectly clean.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this green tea & apple handwash, and I'd certainly buy it again, although I am kind of working my way through the other fragrances in the range first. The other fragrances available are; chamomile & vanilla, olive & jojoba, sea salt & kelp, ginger & clementine, lemon blossom & amber, cinnamon cakes and sweet plum & mimosa.

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Good product at a very reasonable price.

I'm quite a toiletry fiend and can't resist trying out new soaps and shower gels. As I don't usually shop at Waitrose, one day when I happened to be in there I realised there was a whole range of their own-brand toiletries I was yet to try, so after some deliberating over the different 'flavours', I scooped a bottle of this hand wash into my basket and rushed home to wash my hands!

== The range ==

This is part of Waitrose's most basic range of products, known as 'Waitrose Essential'. These are the equivalent to Asda Smart Price or Sainsbury's Basics and are Waitrose's attempt to compete with the other large supermarket chains on price. The products I've tried from the Essential range has been good quality, and the packaging looks classier than the equivalent ranges in other supermarkets: not quite so basic, let's say.In addition to bars of soap, shower gels and bath foams, the Essential range of toiletries also includes a number of pump-top scented hand washes. The one I'm reviewing here is Green Tea & Apple, but the range also features Chamomile, Sweet Plum and Cinnamon Cakes to name a few.

== The product ==

So, as you'd expect, this is a pale green, creamy liquid which comes in a transparent pump-action bottle. The label on the front is minimalist but not so basic as to look cheap and nasty, and shows a picture of an apple, together with the brand and product name. The back of the bottle shows the ingredients, instructions (vital!), bar code, etc. The bottle contains 300ml of hand wash, and can be purchased in Waitrose stores or from their website. I bought it for £1.11 but the whole range of hand washes are currently on offer for £1 each, which seems an excellent price to me.

== The verdict ==

I'm a real fan of fruity scents, and apple is one of my favourites so was instantly won over when I sniffed this product in the shop. I can't say I notice any trace of green tea, but someone with a more sophisticated nose than mine might well do. To me, it's a crisp scent, much like that of a Granny Smith apple. The hand wash is quite a thick, creamy consistency and forms an adequate lather. It cleans well and isn't drying, although it could be a bit more moisturising in my view. It's not a major complaint though, as it doesn't claim to be a moisturising product.

The packaging is decent: I had no problems activating the pump for the first use, and the pump hasn't blocked or jammed at any point. It does need quite a hard press down on the pump to dispense enough hand wash, but this might be because the liquid is quite thick and needs forcing up through the pump.

Overall, a very nice hand wash: looks nice in my bathroom, smells lovely and the price is good. I'd like it to be more moisturising but the fact that it isn't super-hydrating isn't something which would stop me from trying out more products from this range. Cinnamon Cakes is next on my list!